Photos From Korea to the Falkland Islands - colourised images of conflicts after World War II.
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he first production de Havilland Vampire F MK 1, TG274, at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, where it undertook extensive handling trials from July to October 1945.
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Sergeant Joe “Rock” Musial of “D” Company, 1/8th Cavalry looks behind him at a severely wounded GI, as he crawls towards the corpse of a fallen GI, Bon Song Plain, 14 February 1967.
By the account of photographer Robert Hodierne, he'd calmly grab the M79 grenade launcher off his dead comrades and give his North Vietnamese ambushers a taste of their own medicine.
Perhaps most surprising to us as we looked into this poignant photo was the fact this was “Rock” Musial’s first firefight. Despite having served 12 years in the army prior to his first tour in Vietnam, his career was fraught with disciplinary infractions and heavy drinking. He arrived in Vietnam as a mess hall cook and Specialist 4, with some draftees with less than a year of service outranking him.
He might not have been a good soldier, but Joe “Rock” Musial was a damn good warrior. During that first tour in 1966, Musial’s peacetime buddy Sergeant Roger McDonald, recognized him in a mess hall and asked if the alcoholic scrapper like to join his recon unit. Joe Musial took off his apron and went straight to with “D” Company’s recon platoon into battle. He earned his nickname through is fighting reputation and returned to Vietnam for 2 more combat tours.
On the night of 21 March 1969 at LZ/FSB White, Sergeant Rock had sensed that North Vietnamese sappers were infiltrating the perimeter during a night assault. He crudely asked the Lieutenant Colonel at the Battalion HQ bunker for illumination but his request was flatly scoffed at and denied. Rock immediately left the bunker with a 44 Magnum revolver in hand and started to inspect the perimeter. He quickly spotted a lone enemy sapper and stalked him to within 10 feet before he shot the would-be infiltrator. He quickly grabbed the “good communist” over his shoulder, and threw the corpse down the stairs of the HQ bunker.
He remarked “Sir, I told you there were g**ks inside the wire”. Without missing a beat, he went back into the fight armed only with his 44 Magnum. He’d manage to gun down two more North Vietnamese sappers with his revolver while attending to wounded comrades. A third sapper managed to throw an explosive charge at Sergeant Rock as he continued to help the wounded. As shrapnel ripped and burned into his flesh, Sergeant Rock gunned down the last sapper.
Joe “Rock” Musial would survive his wounds and awarded the Silver Star for his actions on 21 March 1968. By the time he left the army in 1974, the peacetime screwup had amassed 2 Silver Stars, 3 Bronze Stars, and 3 Purple Hearts in combat. However, Musial considered his greatest honour to have had LZ Rock named after him by the Air Cavalry, the only one named after a living man.
Musial’s story was publicized in 2001 when he was identified in the 1967 Valentine’s Day ambush photo reconnected with Hodierne who had photographed him that day. Musial had lost a leg to an industrial accident, and was by then dying from an aggressive cancer. Between his army pension and injury settlement, his final days be in his own house on a 35-acre property in rural Michigan. It was a place where the old warrior found peace. Sergeant Rock passed away peacefully on November 11, 2001 – he fought on to live a few days longer than doctors had anticipated for a final Veteran’s Day.
"In Vietnam, Rock was doing what he was designed by God to do, be a warrior. I always said he should have been frozen and put under glass with a sign that said, 'In case of war, break.' – Sergeant Bret Barham, 1st Cavalry Division.
Colorized by Doug
By the account of photographer Robert Hodierne, he'd calmly grab the M79 grenade launcher off his dead comrades and give his North Vietnamese ambushers a taste of their own medicine.
Perhaps most surprising to us as we looked into this poignant photo was the fact this was “Rock” Musial’s first firefight. Despite having served 12 years in the army prior to his first tour in Vietnam, his career was fraught with disciplinary infractions and heavy drinking. He arrived in Vietnam as a mess hall cook and Specialist 4, with some draftees with less than a year of service outranking him.
He might not have been a good soldier, but Joe “Rock” Musial was a damn good warrior. During that first tour in 1966, Musial’s peacetime buddy Sergeant Roger McDonald, recognized him in a mess hall and asked if the alcoholic scrapper like to join his recon unit. Joe Musial took off his apron and went straight to with “D” Company’s recon platoon into battle. He earned his nickname through is fighting reputation and returned to Vietnam for 2 more combat tours.
On the night of 21 March 1969 at LZ/FSB White, Sergeant Rock had sensed that North Vietnamese sappers were infiltrating the perimeter during a night assault. He crudely asked the Lieutenant Colonel at the Battalion HQ bunker for illumination but his request was flatly scoffed at and denied. Rock immediately left the bunker with a 44 Magnum revolver in hand and started to inspect the perimeter. He quickly spotted a lone enemy sapper and stalked him to within 10 feet before he shot the would-be infiltrator. He quickly grabbed the “good communist” over his shoulder, and threw the corpse down the stairs of the HQ bunker.
He remarked “Sir, I told you there were g**ks inside the wire”. Without missing a beat, he went back into the fight armed only with his 44 Magnum. He’d manage to gun down two more North Vietnamese sappers with his revolver while attending to wounded comrades. A third sapper managed to throw an explosive charge at Sergeant Rock as he continued to help the wounded. As shrapnel ripped and burned into his flesh, Sergeant Rock gunned down the last sapper.
Joe “Rock” Musial would survive his wounds and awarded the Silver Star for his actions on 21 March 1968. By the time he left the army in 1974, the peacetime screwup had amassed 2 Silver Stars, 3 Bronze Stars, and 3 Purple Hearts in combat. However, Musial considered his greatest honour to have had LZ Rock named after him by the Air Cavalry, the only one named after a living man.
Musial’s story was publicized in 2001 when he was identified in the 1967 Valentine’s Day ambush photo reconnected with Hodierne who had photographed him that day. Musial had lost a leg to an industrial accident, and was by then dying from an aggressive cancer. Between his army pension and injury settlement, his final days be in his own house on a 35-acre property in rural Michigan. It was a place where the old warrior found peace. Sergeant Rock passed away peacefully on November 11, 2001 – he fought on to live a few days longer than doctors had anticipated for a final Veteran’s Day.
"In Vietnam, Rock was doing what he was designed by God to do, be a warrior. I always said he should have been frozen and put under glass with a sign that said, 'In case of war, break.' – Sergeant Bret Barham, 1st Cavalry Division.
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Weighted down with ammunition and other gear a trooper of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade leans against a battered tree wiping the dust of battle from his eyes after the battle of Hill 875 came to an end during the week of Nov. 19, 1967.
The Americans fought entrenched North Vietnamese troops for four days before taking the crest of the hill located near Dak To, South Vietnam, Nov. 23, 1967.
(AP Photo)
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The Americans fought entrenched North Vietnamese troops for four days before taking the crest of the hill located near Dak To, South Vietnam, Nov. 23, 1967.
(AP Photo)
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US machine gun crew fires point-blank into Communist ring around Bu Dop after an infantry patrol ran into the enemy lines at edge of the Special Forces camp runway in Vietnam on Dec. 1, 1967. A large communist force encircled the tiny outpost near the Cambodian border.
(AP Photo)
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(AP Photo)
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U.S. Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, crouch in the cover of a pagoda entrance as their patrol moves through a village along the Ben Hai river in the southern sector of the DMZ in South Vietnam, on May 22, 1967.
The pagoda walls are richly decorated with images of dragons and snakes. (AP Photo/Kim Ki Sam)
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The pagoda walls are richly decorated with images of dragons and snakes. (AP Photo/Kim Ki Sam)
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Two South Vietnamese children gaze at an American paratrooper holding an M79 grenade launcher as they cling to their mothers who huddle against a canal bank for protection from Viet Cong sniper fire in the Bao Trai area, 20 miles west of Saigon, Jan. 1, 1966.
The 173rd Airborne brigade was making a sweep in Bao Trai area to round up Viet Cong suspects. The farmers and their families were rounded up by combined Vietnamese, American and Australian battalions in area long held by Viet Cong.
(AP Photo/Horst Faas)
The 173rd Airborne brigade was making a sweep in Bao Trai area to round up Viet Cong suspects. The farmers and their families were rounded up by combined Vietnamese, American and Australian battalions in area long held by Viet Cong.
(AP Photo/Horst Faas)
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beautiful decoration, the interesting thing is that in Vietnam there are so many cultures that their cultural mix is more than surprising, of course not very "voluntarily" on their part...
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Hill 614, Korea, 1951-03-01. Led by Corporal (Cpl) Len Wright (left), members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), move forward from Hill 614 to attack Hill 587.
Cpl Wright is carrying an Owen submachine gun and has a smoke grenade and a hand grenade attached to his belt. The soldier following him, who is smoking a cigarette, is carrying a Bren gun over his shoulder. Behind him, another soldier is lighting a cigarette. Cpl Wright was a cinema projectionist in civilian life.
Australian War Memorial - P01813.449
Colourised by Doug
Cpl Wright is carrying an Owen submachine gun and has a smoke grenade and a hand grenade attached to his belt. The soldier following him, who is smoking a cigarette, is carrying a Bren gun over his shoulder. Behind him, another soldier is lighting a cigarette. Cpl Wright was a cinema projectionist in civilian life.
Australian War Memorial - P01813.449
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President John F. Kennedy visits the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. October 12, 1961.
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Close-up of Cuban soldiers in the audience in la Plaza de la Revolucion during the 10th anniversary celebration of the Cuban Revolution in Havana, Cuba, January 1, 1969.
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A woman demonstrator is moved on by British troops after a night of rioting in Newry, Northern Ireland on October 25th, 1971.
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American soldiers of the US brigade Berlin sit in their jeep on the 18th of October in 1961 during a three day manoeuvre in Berlin Grunewald.
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Medics rush an injured paratrooper from the 101st Airborne Division to an evacuation helicopter during fighting on Hamburger Hill in the Vietnam War. May 19, 1969.
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US paratroopers either from the 187th Glider Infantry Regiment or 10th Special Forces Group inside a C119 Flying Boxcar 1950s, Korean War.
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Look how white that grunt's face is - he's in a bad way!
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A sculpture of an old Vietnamese warrior from a past century contrasts sharply with a U.S. Marine on patrol in the Citadel of Huế. February 26, 1968
(AP Photo/Dang Van Phuoc).
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(AP Photo/Dang Van Phuoc).
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Dutch Marines of Company F, 2nd Battalion, engaging the Indonesians at close range while on patrol in Dungus, Sukodono, Sidoarjo, East Java.
On the left is identified as Private first class Petrus Johannes Vos of Helmond, North Brabant. He was killed by sniper fire, he was only nineteen years old.
10/11 May 1946.
Indonesian War of Independence.
Company F, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Brigade, Royal Netherlands Marine Corps.
Photographer: 2nd Lt. Hugo Wilmar.
On the left is identified as Private first class Petrus Johannes Vos of Helmond, North Brabant. He was killed by sniper fire, he was only nineteen years old.
10/11 May 1946.
Indonesian War of Independence.
Company F, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Brigade, Royal Netherlands Marine Corps.
Photographer: 2nd Lt. Hugo Wilmar.
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